Armenians Who Need Help Today

By Fred Hiatt
Monday, October 15, 2007; A15

Imagine what the Armenian diaspora might have accomplished had it
worked as hard for democracy in Armenia as it did for congressional
recognition of the genocide Armenians suffered nearly a century ago.
It’s even possible that modern Armenia would be as democratic as
modern Turkey.

The Armenian American community notched a political victory last week
when the House Foreign Affairs Committee voted 27 to 21 for a
resolution demanding that the U.S. government officially acknowledge
that Turkey committed genocide against the Armenian people early in
the 20th century. The Turkish government insists that, while terrible
things happened, there was no genocide. The Bush administration,
reluctant to offend an important ally, lobbied hard against the
resolution.

There are passionate arguments on both sides of this fight: the
urgency of facing history honestly, on one hand; unease over
attempting to resolve such matters by political declaration, on the
other. But what is sad, when members of Congress are hailing the vote
as a victory for human rights, is how poorly human rights fare in
Armenia today.

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, none of its 15 component
republics seemed better poised to evolve democratically than Armenia.
A beautiful country of mountains and pastures and vineyards, it had a
clearer sense of national identity than most, with a long pre-Soviet
history as a nation; its own language, alphabet and church; and a
passionate diaspora, many of whose members were ready to bring not
only their skills but also their habits of democracy and civil society
to Yerevan. Of an estimated 10 million ethnic Armenians in the world,
only 3 million dwell in Armenia; more than 2 million live in Russia,
but about 1.5 million are in the United States.

Things began well, with the honest election of a former dissident as
president. But authoritarian tendencies soon emerged, the former
dissident rigged his reelection in 1996, and things went downhill from
there. As Freedom House noted last year, "all national elections held
in Armenia since independence have been marred by some degree of
ballot stuffing, vote rigging, and similar irregularities." Meanwhile,
opposition politicians have been jailed, protests have been brutally
suppressed, and broadcast media have been taken under government
control.

Conditions in Armenia are better than in some post-Soviet republics.
Though corruption is endemic, the economy is growing and ranks
relatively high in some measures of freedom for private enterprise. A
parliamentary election in the spring was conducted more fairly than
past polls. The ruling oligarchs tolerate some opposition parties,
nongovernmental organizations and non-official newspapers.

But conditions also are a lot worse than in some republics, notably
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Many members of their diasporas also
returned to their ancestral homelands, where they became passionate
advocates not only of national rebirth but also of democracy and
corruption-free capitalism.

Why the difference? Armenia was sidetracked early on by a war with
neighboring Azerbaijan over an Armenian enclave inside that country.
The enclave is under Armenian control today, but a cease-fire has not
given way to a peace settlement. Consequently, the two main Armenian
American lobbying organizations in Washington have focused more on
security questions — opposing arms sales to Azerbaijan, for example,
and opposing Turkey, Azerbaijan’s ally — than on promoting democracy
in Yerevan. Armenia’s rulers have known that, no matter how they
trample on individual rights at home, the lobbying groups will cover
for them here.

The heads of both U.S. organizations told me that their groups have
worked, sometimes quietly, to promote human rights and civil society
in Armenia. Undoubtedly their influence would be limited, no matter
how hard they tried.

But what if they had tried as fervently as they did to win Wednesday’s
vote? It’s hard not to think that 3 million Armenians might be less
poor and more free than they are today.

fredhiatt@washpost.com

Source: le/2007/10/14/AR2007101400957.html